Tomyra the Great
Queen Tomyra, otherwise known as Tomyra the Great, was the queen of the Masagatae and the mother of Lenor, Sod, Malca, Cantaba, and Utet. The Tomyrian Sea is named for her, in honor of her rule of Arborea and beyond. Biography Pursuit by Caronos Queen Tomyra's early life is more or less unknown. As queen of the Masagatae, she was responsible for the horseback-riding nomads taking to the sea from some lands to the south and entering Solernia sometime in the Middle Era of Bronze. Oepitorus, who is the primary source for much of her life, as well as some apocryphal stories recorded by the King of Lateria Erud, note that she was a tall woman who was escaping the armies of Caronos, who wished to enslave her people. Caronos and his armies are often interpreted as being some sort of early empire to the west, and possibly related to the kingdom of Serenity, under Melakesh. Oepitorus notes that Caronos was the son of Melakesh, which would imply he is actually Caine, but this is not corroborated by any other sources. Most interpret Caronos to be a human. Caronos propositioned Tomyra to marry him as one of his queens, but she refused outright, believing that the Masagatae would do better than to be led by a consort. For this he pursued her to the borderlands of Serenity. Tomyra sent a single messenger to Caronos and told him not to follow them across a particular river, or he would "have your thirst for blood finally quenched." Caronos advanced anyway, and in a battle by its eastern coast, he feigned a retreat and had the Masagatae fooled into getting drunk on a batch of alcohol left behind in their false war-camp. He then attacked, and captured Tomyra's eldest child and son, Spartases. Tomyra led a small band of her finest warriors, named for her son, and attacked Caronos in the early morning, capturing many and Tomyra slaying Caronos by her own arrow. She then is said to have dipped the head in a pool of blood, "quenching" the warlord's thirst for blood. Knowing that the son of Caronos would soon pursue her to the ends of the earth, as she had for her own child, she led the traditionally pastoral peoples across the sea to find a new land to settle away from imperial domination. For this, the Masagatae would later name the basin she crossed the Tomyrian Sea. Conquering of the western lands Though her son Spartases had died during the final battle, Tomyra had three daughters that flanked her in battle that she made as generals thereafter: Utet, Malca, and Cantaba. When each of her daughters became of age (believed to be when they had the first child of their own), they set out to stake a new kingdom. Both Utet and Cantaba rode east, with Cantaba settling Cantabria and Utet riding further inland into the mountains and landlocked seas of Utetoria. Malca would inherit Solernia after Tomyra passed away. Tomyra had two sons during this time, Lenor and Sod. They were not of age by the time she became pregnant with her last child. Death Tomyra became pregnant with her last child, a girl, but died during childbirth. From this point, her three daughters were all of age, and they attempted to kill the two surviving sons of Tomyra by abandoning them in the wilderness. This would prove to be a mistake, as seen with Lenor's conquering of Arborea. The Masagatae were without any definitive leader at that point, and broke apart under her daughters and integrated more into the cultural landscape. Tomyra would only have a child once with a single man, and only those she deemed worthy in battle. Because of this, the issue of who was the true heir became prevalent, and it was decided by the three surviving daughters that breaking apart the tribe was in the best interest of the Masagatae. Legacy Though other cultures have had their own names for the body of water, the expansion of the Dinamid Republic would ultimately lead to the Tomyrian Sea being the primary name used into the Fifth Era and beyond. Influence in future cultures The warrior queen of the Masagatae has been a major point of influence for many civilizations in Arborea and Crotalusia, especially noble families from Utetoria, Cantabria, and Eragonia. Tomyra is held as a powerful figure in the founding myth of these civilizations and is also central to the legacy of humans who inhabit the Old World. The image of a competent female figure is also important to the Amazons, who would gain influence during the decline of the Kingdom of Themyscria and would later live in the wilderness of Crotalusia. Tomyra has been a subject in many works of art, especially in antiquity. She is featured most prominently in the sculpture of the Utetorian Venus. Noble houses There are at least ten houses in southern Arborea that claim to directly trace their ancestry to the queen Tomyra, with their genealogy being suspect due to the lack of written records. Of these, the Amazons and the House of the Valkyrie are the most vocal of their Matriarch; others associate with the Masagatae and by extension Queen Tomyra as a mere tertiary note of their pedigree.Category:Characters Category:Matriarchs Category:Heroic mysteries